Foster the People Talk Getting Into Character During Songwriting Process

As Foster the People climb the charts with their latest single, 'Don't Stop (Color on the Walls),' singer Mark Foster is giving fans insight into his songwriting process.

Foster tells MTV that he enjoys writing from the perspective of others. "It's really liberating to get in the head of a character, to write in character, because you're pulling from things that relate to you and you're obviously putting yourself in the song, but it's through someone else's eyes," Foster explains. "It gives a lot of room and space for imagination, to not get stale or stagnant."

He adds, "If you're writing autobiographically all the time, sometimes there's just not much going on in your life that's interesting. But then all of a sudden you switch it over to someone else, who's in a completely different situation, and you get all these brand new ideas again."

Foster the People are up for two 2012 Grammy Awards based on the success of 'Pumped Up Kicks,' which experienced a level of success that even Foster can't totally explain.

"I think that there's something about the song that's very human, and there's something that's nostalgic," he says. "There's also something that's modern. It reaches people from really young to old."

Watch Foster the People Discuss Songwriting